Susanne Bier Shortlisted to Direct Next James Bond Film (Report)

The Oscar-winning director of 'The Night Manager' is reportedly on a shortlist of names to take over from the departing Sam Mendes.

The success of BBC/AMC drama The Night Manager may have given Tom Hiddleston's James Bond credentials a sizeable bump, with countless column inches suggesting his lauded turn as a concierge-turned-spy on TV had near-as-dammit secured him the 007 role should Daniel Craig step down.

But with Sam Mendes revealing over the weekend that he wouldn't be returning to the franchise after two stints in the director's chair, attention has now turned to the goings on behind the camera, and to another person with Night Manager credentials.

According to U.K. publication Radio Times, Susanne Bier has been shortlisted to helm the next Bond film, the 25th, with sources saying that the Oscar-winning Danish director is among a "handful" of names on producer Barbara Broccoli's list of who could take over from Mendes.

Bier, who helmed all six episodes of Night Manager, would become the first woman to assume the Bond hot seat. The move also could shorten Hiddleston's odds, with Bier having praised her Night Manager lead for having a "certain enigmatic quality to his eyes" and combining elegance and charm with painfulness — something Craig brought by the bucket-load to his latest Bond incarnation — and something she thought for most women was "irresistible."

While still rooted in speculation, like much of all Bond talk, Bier would fit a 007 tradition of appointing a respected international director operating mostly outside of Hollywood.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Bond producer Eon for comment.